Not Afraid of Monsters
by ScientistInOrbit
Summary: After a young woman contacts him, Tony Stark learns his father had a daughter from an old affair. His niece disappears but after the Battle of New York he asks her to move there and become a publicist for the Avengers. Meanwhile Barton keeps making popcorn with the ARC reactor and Banner still doesn't know if he really should live in the Avengers Tower.


I was bored and this came to my mind. I hope you'll have fun.

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**CHAPTER ONE**

Unexpected family

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It all began with a simple little wish; a wish that was preceded and followed by the shouting and yelling of my mother that lasted for days. Do you want to know what triggered this reaction in her? The cause was the news about the kidnapping of Tony Stark, the billionaire with one of the greatest minds of our time when it came to technology.

A week after he had announced he was the mysterious Iron Man, I contacted his personal assistant. Another week later I was surprised to find a message written by Tony Stark himself in which he agreed to meet me in Los Angeles. So I got my ticket and flew there from London, spending two days in the hotel without telling him I had arrived. Being so close to my goal seriously freaked me out. I didn't want it. I didn't want any of this, but I made a promise to my parents and right now I was the only one who could get the answers they wanted. On the third day I finally made the call and arranged a meeting for the afternoon.

We talked about many things but we both wanted to keep the conversation short and to the point. He asked me about the information I had e-mailed to his assistant so I told him about my grandmother and how she had worked with Howard Stark in Europe several times after World War II. The way Tony handled the topic and our meeting proved how intelligent he was. Until we got proof he didn't ask me about the details, but I wouldn't have told him anyway.

Then, only three hours later, we were in a lab where they took a DNA sample from both of us. I have no idea what kind of technology they used but the results came in the next morning. For my biggest surprise my mother's theory turned out to be correct: Howard Stark was her biological father. I wasn't happy because deep inside I hoped it would turn out to be nothing more but her imagination. At least Tony seemed to be just as shocked and confused as I was.

"How about a drink?" he asked me as we walked to his car in the parking lot.

I looked down at my watch then shook my head. "First, it's only nine in the morning. Second, I have a video conference in an hour. Even though I took a week off one of our clients wants to talk to me so badly she's even willing to be in our office in the evening," I explained him with a smile.

He nodded and offered to meat late in the afternoon instead. Since that sounded much better I agreed then returned to my hotel room to get that damn conference call over with.

The bar he chose was astonishing and lacked those annoying people who only visited such places to act as if they were important. Those who were really important, whose work really mattered usually remained quiet and well-mannered. For long minutes we only sat on the bar stools, either trying to keep ourselves busy with something or silently judging people. By now, hours after it turned out he was practically my uncle - half-uncle, to be exact - this silence didn't seem awkward anymore. It was quite the opposite: it turned out we were a lot alike.

Then, half an hour and two drinks later he finally asked me about the details, those parts of the story I hadn't told him before in case we weren't really related.

"Well, my grandmother never suggested that Howard Stark was my mother's biological father but the more you think about it the more obvious it gets. Photographs, dates and the way she always tried to avoid the topic along with my grandfather. You know, if it wasn't for my mom, I wouldn't care about it, to be honest."

Tony nodded and took another sip of his third drink. There was now a strange look in his eyes and I knew whatever he wanted to talk about had to be serious and very personal. "There were lots of women claiming to have a child from my father after he died," he began quietly, his eyes fixed on the mirror behind the shelves. "But your grandmother's name is the only one I found among my father's old documents which got me interested. I don't know, maybe deep inside I was kind of excited to see if I had a living relative somewhere in the world. My father wasn't one to show his feelings but I still miss him because I was only twenty-one when he died. Maybe things could've happened differently if I had a big sister to lead the company until I was ready to take it over." A pause followed his words then he asked, "Why now?"

"It's a long story and I don't want to bore you with that."

"I have time."

"Okay, you asked for it," I gave in with a small laugh. "My mother probably has some kind of a mental problem. I say probably because she doesn't want to see a specialist even though her condition is getting worse. She's quite irrational sometimes and I have no idea how my dad manages to live with her without going crazy. I only spend a few hours home every week but most of the time I just want to run away screaming."

I stopped and ordered another round while staring longingly at my empty glass. At least Tony didn't push me so I could wait until my next drink arrived.

"You know, she never cared about whether or not her suspicions were true. My grandfather had been there whenever she needed him and that was enough for her. But then the news about you being kidnapped came and something snapped in her. She talked so much about _what if_ that my father eventually had to make a deal with her: if I come here and get the answer for her question, she'll finally see a specialist."

"Well, now you can tell her she's officially my half-sister," he said, raising his glass with a smile. "Actually, you know what? I'll take you back to London on my private jet so I can talk to her in person."

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

He raised his eyebrows as he turned to me with a questioning look on his face. "Why not?"

"Because all she needed was a DNA test," I explained. "She doesn't want anyone else to know about this, especially not the media. Even if I'm a public relation specialist it doesn't mean I can't keep them away from her."

"At least let me pay for her future treatment."

"Absolutely not," I not objected quickly. "I mean, thank you, it's really nice and generous of you, but we definitely don't need your money."

"That's pretty weird if you ask me."

"Why?"

"Most people would definitely want money in this scenario, especially when the newly found relative happens to be the one who inherited the world's biggest company." He finished his drink and rested her elbows on the bar. "Then again, you're not most people."

"Look, if you really want to visit her, fine. But not right away. Let me tell her about this whole trip first. If she agrees then I'll call you. Deal?"

He nodded. "Deal. By the way, don't you want to work in the communication department of Stark Industries? As far as I know some people would kill for that job."

It was nice that he tried but I turned down his offer. As for myself, I knew there was no reason to keep in contact with him. Of course I liked him because he was cool but I had my own life, I had my own career and I loved this mostly peaceful lifestyle. So I said goodbye and returned to London, believing we wouldn't meet again.

As it turned out years later, I was wrong.

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Thanks for reading. Should I continue? Tell me what you think because I seriously don't know.

**UPDATE ****1/22/2015: I guess this story will be on hiatus until Age of Ultron.**


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